As IIF stated, no one wants to talk about Wing Chun and/or Aikido, which is interesting, when you consider that those threads almost always get a ton of comments (albeit probably the majority of those are coming from the same people). I've seen threads posted that get little or no attention, and people will say "Search Function Noob" but then a new wingchikido thread gets posted and they jump all over themselves to post the same exact things they've already said on a million other threads. Personally, I have no interest in joining that particular discussion.

The things I WOULD like to discuss, I don't really feel like I can. Devil mentioned Belcher's threads failing to generate responses. This is, imho, most likely due to the fact that we can't respond to most of those threads. The moderation of the technique forums is WAY too tight, to the point where I don't feel like they're even useable anymore. Just look at them (specifically the advanced grappling forum). There are exactly 2 threads with 3 or more pages of discussion on the first page of that forum.

Now, I get the intention, I really do, but the result is, we have an amazing forum that NOBODY POST IN! There have been several times where I thought about posting threads and then thought better of it, because I don't know if they're "worthy" or not. So, congratulations to us for having such an elite forum that no one uses. These are discussion forums! Let people discuss! If the thread isn't great, it will suffer the same fate as any other thread in any other forum (people won't post and it'll die a natural death as it hits page 2 and beyond). To put it simply, if you want the forums to be used, you have to let people use them the way THEY want to, even if it doesn't fit your own ideal vision. What's better, having an elite forum that no one uses, or having a forum that IS actually used, though the content maybe isn't all the highest quality?

On a different subject, I'm about tired of reading about Gong Sau's that we all know are never going to happen from the start. I'm tired of seeing bitching and infighting. I don't want to see topics pinned at the top of the most used forum with mods or other site personnel calling out posters. This does not make for an inviting atmosphere to new posters (I assume we want new people?).

I guess what I'm saying is, I don't want my forum run (for lack of a better word) by the mods. I would prefer the community be allowed to drive the site, but it often feels, to me, like it's the mods and other site personnel that do the driving, and if we don't like where they're taking us, we leave (because there's really nothing else to do). Also, **** wingchikido, how many times does the same argument have to be played out?

No, actually, that post was a show of respect. If we were to enact some change that made it necessary for you to post in a different manner, than I would agree that Bullshido is no more, it has lost it's soul, it's pushing up daisies.

If we posted more and lurked less, Bullshido would no longer be as useful to the masses. It would always be useful to the sharks among you who enjoy good chum.

It's funny because the Boston bombing investigation was "crowdsourced" (not perfectly but what is)....and it had its ups and downs but ultimately showed the strengths and weaknesses of an online community that is "trusted" for its subject matter.
Reddit showed how that process fails with identifying suspects in a crowd WHEN TOO MANY IDIOTS ARE LET IN THE DOOR.

Bullshido shows time and again how the process can work to out a martial artist for fraudulent practices, and that the administration does give a **** about being accurate.

There is certainly always going to be that element of Bullshido's community whose sole purpose is to log in daily and comment on everything and not do any of that with the goal of improving martial artistry.

There will certainly always be those who attempt to build great reputations online with regards to martial skill and yet never, ever put their face where their mouth is in even the most light contact testament.

I do not count myself within either of these groups; my purpose on Bullshido is to maintain the aliveness of my martial art discipline.

Sure I could log into MAP and find whatever little nuanced discussion my heart wanted, like whether the correct canonical spelling is "pak" or "pek" or "pok" or the 185,374th "Bruce Lee: Amazing or Not?" thread.

Nope, what I prefer is a quiet CMA forum where these little gems fall from the sky in the form of shuai jiao videos I haven't seen before, or occasionally the MMA forum where we BS about classic UFC showdowns or the latest BJJ bullshit that works.

People don't have to sift through a lot of garbage here....that is so rare. If they are afraid of the garbage collection process, then good...it's working as intended.

Now, I get the intention, I really do, but the result is, we have an amazing forum that NOBODY POST IN! There have been several times where I thought about posting threads and then thought better of it, because I don't know if they're "worthy" or not. So, congratulations to us for having such an elite forum that no one uses. These are discussion forums! Let people discuss! If the thread isn't great, it will suffer the same fate as any other thread in any other forum (people won't post and it'll die a natural death as it hits page 2 and beyond). To put it simply, if you want the forums to be used, you have to let people use them the way THEY want to, even if it doesn't fit your own ideal vision. What's better, having an elite forum that no one uses, or having a forum that IS actually used, though the content maybe isn't all the highest quality?

No offense, but this is not accurate. Here's why,

1. We do have a technique forum "for the people". It's called the Basic Technique forum. The posting rules in it are much more lax than in the AdGrap forum.

2. You want to post something in AdGrap? Go for it. If you're not a shitbird poster, and the thread poses a valid question that's too basic for AdGrap, I will move it to the Basic forum. I may send you a note explaining why I moved it, but the days of me insulting and chastising people for posting material not quite suited to AdGrap are long gone. I'll tell you another "secret". I don't give infractions for posting inappropriate subjects in AdGrap unless you're a repeat offender.

3. Furthermore, any member here is welcome to PM me for feedback concerning any thread you want to post in the technique section. I have stated this multiple times on this site. It's even mentioned in the sticky in AdGrap.

4. Phrost tells the staff and mods to moderate this site as little as possible. The content on this site is user driven. If you want the site to get better, do something about it.

I can't tell you how much of my time I've spent here explaining moderation policies, in PM's, infractions and in threads. It actually consumes a fair amount of my time here. I try to do this in a polite manner because it is not my intention to drive people away. My intention is to help them understand the reasons I'm correcting them.

I have grown progressively less strict over my tenure here. Perhaps it is not enough for you.

2. You want to post something in AdGrap? Go for it. If you're not a shitbird poster, and the thread poses a valid question that's too basic for AdGrap, I will move it to the Basic forum. I may send you a note explaining why I moved it, but the days of me insulting and chastising people for posting material not quite suited to AdGrap are long gone. I'll tell you another "secret". I don't give infractions for posting inappropriate subjects in AdGrap unless you're a repeat offender.

Originally Posted by AKRhino

I don't want to have to pm anyone to ask if my thread idea is acceptable or not. I think the proof is on the first page of the forum. No one's using it.

The moderation on this comes off as fairly heavy handed tbh. Some of it, I think, is justified, the MABS forum should be moderated heavily. But beyond that...

Did you even read my post. I laid out a SERIES of options, one of which was item #2 quoted above.

Holy **** dude, it's the internet. Is the threat of punishment from the big bad mods that bad? Sheesh.

Punishment has nothing to do with anything. I haven't said anything about punishment, because that's not one of my concerns. So I post a thread in the grappling forum. You decide it's not worthy, and move it. No harm, right? Except that doesn't help the forum get used. It actually restricts its use. Why bother commenting on a thread there, if my comments might end up in trollshido or wherever? What I'm saying is, if you want people to use a discussion forum, you have to let there be discussions.

You said "Phrost tells the staff and mods to moderate this site as little as possible" but then you say: "I can't tell you how much of my time I've spent here explaining moderation policies, in PM's, infractions and in threads. It actually consumes a fair amount of my time here. I try to do this in a polite manner because it is not my intention to drive people away. My intention is to help them understand the reasons I'm correcting them."

Maybe stop correcting them (to a point), and let discussions take whatever path they naturally take?

There's no need to be so defensive, btw. I offered my thoughts on the forum. If you don't agree, whatever, that's fine, I'll continue to not post in your forum, and then we both win?

There's no need to be so defensive, btw. I offered my thoughts on the forum. If you don't agree, whatever, that's fine, I'll continue to not post in your forum, and then we both win?

I am being defensive in the sense that I'm explaining site policy. You complained about the way AdGrap is moderated, and I responded with a series of solutions.

AdGrap is meant to be an information rich resource for knowledgeable grapplers. It will cease to be that if posts that are low on content are allowed regularly. Hell, W. Rabbit has posted in AdGrap and his post wasn't culled. He's not even a grappler.

"It's better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission" applies here as far as I'm concerned. If you want to post in AdGrap, do it. You're not brand new to grappling and chances are that your post will remain.

I responded to your concerns because I felt there was a misunderstanding. Despite my best efforts, you seem like you're not understanding me.

That comment about not wanting to send a PM made me laugh though. It reminds me of the type of person that complains bitterly when their remote dies and they have to get off the couch to change the channel.

If you want to do something badly enough, you will invest the work necessary to get it done. Otherwise, it indicates that you didn't really want it that badly anyway.

Edit: Regarding your point about spending my time explaining site policy in light of Phrost's edict, that was strictly concerning the posting policy in the various forums that are moderated more heavily, like MABS or AdGrap.